Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-01-27
ABOUT PATENTs
Row the Office is Managed and Whence In
Yentions Come-A Strong Contingent from
the Noble Army Of Cranks.

In The matter Of ingenuity the Ameri.
can people lead the world, writes cor
respondent Of the New York Herald.
More applications for patents are re-
ceiyed and more patents granted at the
patent Office in this city than in any
other two countries of Europe. Great
Britain comes next on the list, France
third and Germany fourth. It was not
until 1896 that a patent Office was organ
lied as a separate bureau with com
missioner and suitable assistants for the
proper discharge of its duties. It is rather
a singular fact that the first year only
single patent was fled The next year
the number increased TO los. The in
crease has steadily grown until in 1886
l,I91 applications we're filed. The whole
number of patents granted since 1886 is.
in sound numbers, 355, 900. The appli-
cations Tor patents are regarded as good
index of the general bushes prosperity
Of the country. When times are dull in
yentors realize that capital is slow to risk
the result of their experiments. On the
other hand, when money Is plentiful it
is poor inventor who cannot find some
one willing at least, to pay the legal ex-
penses necessary 20 the taking out of
patent. II may be said, if the theory of
the patent officials holds good, that the
country was never IN a more prosperous
condition than at present as the number
exceeded by several thousand those of
any preceding year.
More patents have been granted to the
citizens of New York than TO those of
any other state. This is owing probably
to her larger population. Upon this
hypothesis Pennsylvania takes the second
place, and according TO tho same reason
ing Illinois or Ohio should come next,
but the trouth is that Massachusetts, holds
the third place, with Illinois fourth and
Ohio fifth. The character of the apsli-
cation usually denotes the locality from
which it proceeds. For example, appli-
cations showing the inventor to be man
of high scientific education mainly come
from New York, Massachusetts, or Con
necticut. Improvements in cotton and
sugar machinery are the work almost en-
tirely of southern inventors. The deyeI-
opment of inventive genius in the south
has been remarkable during the past de-
cade. this is especially so in Georgia
and Texas, the two most progressive
states south of Mason and Dizons line.
The applications from the south az re-
Gently as 1872, we're only a fraction OF
those filed from the north. Abo1t 1875
a change was noted, and the increase
since then has been relatively a. great as
that of the northern states.
Inventions are the natural sequence to
demand in that direction. When the
telephone was patented, for instance,
men began turning their attention TO
subordinate devices necessary to make
the telephone system complete. In this
particular branch more than one thous-
and applications have already been re-
ceived 1t ia so wits railway accidents.
The effect of the recent horror of TIhin,
O., has been to deluge the Office with doz-
ems OF patents for heating and light
ing railway carriages different
from that at present employed. Within
three months after the great Milwaukee
hotel fire, a few years ago, more than
hundred applications tor fire escapes
we're filed. Even the Charleston earth
quake had the effect of stimulating half
dozen inventions for detecting the ap-
proach of such disasters.
Thomas A. Edison OF New York, has
the honor of receiving more patents than
any other American, past or present.
list is still growing.
It is a curious fact, according 10 the
best of authorities in the patent office,
that the three best commissioners 1t has
ever had were Ohio men. The first com
missioner, who recognized the office and
established the present code of practice,
was Samuel s. Fisher, of Ohio. Gen. NJ.
d. Leggett of Ohio, enjoys the distinction
of equal rank with Mr.. Fisher, while the
last of the trio is Ben Butterworth, now
representative of the first Cincinnati
district.
II is related of Gen. Leggett, that when
he accepted the commissionership it was
upon the express understanding from
President Grant that he should be wholly
independent of the secretary of the in
terror in the matter of appointments and
disrnissals. He at once began clearing
out the dead wood" as he expressed it,
and almost the first man dismissed was
nephew of Gen. GRAFT. The latter in
instructed Commissioner Leggett to re-
instate the clerk, but the commissioner
reminded Grant of their understanding,
and the result was that tho nephew was
transferred to another department.
1t would require volume to enumerate
the different applications for patents
made by the crank element. While their
applications cover every variety of sub
iects, the most alluring field TO them is
that of aerial navigation. A few years
ago Frederick Anderson, an Englishman
residing at Southampton, sent TO the Of
fee here drawings for a flying machine
upon which he wanted (. patent A few
weeks later he appeared at the Office in
person and offered to demonstrate to the
officials the utility OF his inventions. The
machine was carried to the top of the
building. The inventor was asked how it
would fly. He replied that it ought to
even in its crude shape, sail as far as the
Smithsonian Institute, distance Of half
a mile.
All the arrangements were carefully
made. and the machine started adrift. 1t
fell to the ground like a shot The spec
tators guy ed the luckless inventor so free
ly that he withdrew TO his hotel, and there
in fit OF dependency blew out his
brains.
Mr. Charles Kintner, chief of the cleo
trical division, speaking about the crank
4 Il 49,